The Women's Rolling Football Thread season 2023-24

[DuncinToffee]

Calling all football fans to discuss all things related to the beautiful game

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Spanish players will NOT return to the national team

“The changes made are not enough for the players to feel safe, where women are respected, where there is support for women’s football and where we can maximise our potential.”

39 Spain players have signed a statement and won't be available for a call-up. 3pm squad announcement has been delayed indefinitely.

Of the WWC 23, Claudia Zornoza and Athenea del Castillo remain available for selection.

https://x.com/RichJLaverty/status/1702680542972436963?s=20

(edited to add some extra information)

And

A judge has banned Spain's ex-football boss Luis Rubiales from going within 200m of footballer Jenni Hermoso.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66818691

Thanks for sharing. I'm not on twitter.

You'd think the Spanish FA would have grasped by now that this is about the whole culture, wouldn't you ?

<rolls eyes>

I'll say!

duncintoffee
So proud of those Spanish footballers who are withdrawing their labour. It's the football equivalent of the Dagenham car plant women. Bit disappointed in the 2 from the WWC who are not holding the line, though.

About the restraining order...good!

usingchangeofname
Quite right, they don't see, they just want it to go away quickly so that it doesn't make them look bad. But what they also don't get is that these women have their backs to the wall and they have nothing to lose and everything to gain by fighting.

Bella Bit disappointed in the 2 from the WWC who are not holding the line, though.

Zomoza has now announced her retirement from international football and has given her full support to the players

Haven't seen anything about del Castillo

Man Utd did beat PSG last year in the Amos Women's Cup and then promptly lost 3-O to Bayern in the final. I see Glasgow City will also be playing in this stage.

The Spanish women players are amazing. Well done to them. I like the comparison with the women at Dagenham.

Second in a top European league and still have to qualify? It's idiotic, isn't it? Let's hope that Uefa see sense and expand the size of the competition, because both PSG and ManU should be in the CL group stage.

duncintoffee
Ah, ok. I now graciously forgive Zomoza...

I hadn't realised it was a different system for men's and women's teams, Bella. I agree that they could expand the number of teams. After all, there is quite a gap between some of the teams in the group stages in the men's UCL but that doesn't matter once teams reach the knockout stage. The other thing I thought was a shame last season was the clash between the men's FA Cup Final and the women's CL final. Maybe it was because the FA Cup was late because of Qatar but Emma Hayes pointed out that the scheduling could have been better.

Women's football is always an afterthought to the powers that be. I genuinely believe that the fact that fans are invested and the game is growing so quickly is astonishing and perplexing to them because they only pay lip service to equity etc. That's why they always seem to be on the back foot. Same applies to the commercial partners - Mary Earps's shirt being the latest example.

Wow, the new Spain manager Montse Tomé has called up 21 players who signed the player statement released the other day demanding changes within the federation

Mia Eriksson
She has shown she is a big part of the issues within the RFEF if the players did not know they were being called up.

Her career as the Spanish head coach, if true, is over before it started. She has already shown how willing she is to ’protect’ her players…

Alex Ibaceta
A reminder that the RFEF is threatening with legal action should players refuse a national team call up

Worse case scenario, it results in the suspension of their playing license

A lot of the players didn’t know they were going to be featured in the squad, the battle continues

Hmm. The players are obviously not convinced by Montse Tome's protestations. I wonder if the federation will follow through on the implicit threat to sue the players or take away their licenses. That would not play well with the general public in Spain or Europe-wide. I can see some players being offered citizenship by other countries if it comes to that.

She has also left out Hermoso, to 'protect' her

I guess we will have to wait and see what happens.

Oh, I see.
Sporting authorities can be so vindictive. Fifa, Uefa, national FAs should take a once-daily look in the mirror and say to themselves, "Without the players, I don't even have a job, let alone a career."

It feels like it's only going to be pressure from the national government which is going to force RFEF to make fundamental changes.

By coincidence, Diane Caldwell has been quoted today criticising the Ireland coach Vera Pauw. Most of the criticism is about her tactics and training but some Houston Dash players have accused her of bodyshaming them and being overly controlling about what they ate.

Jenni Hermosos has released a statement asking what she needs protecting from.

Good for JH.

The footage of Spain's national team effectively being forced to show up for camp is seriously troubling.

The WORLD CHAMPIONS threatened with legal action from their own federation - after a month of awful developments, it gets worse.

So messed up, so humiliating.

x.com/molly_mcelwee/status/1704100211071533263?s=20

This was my worry.
that whoever has presided over the Spanish FA for such a long time, is so ingrained in its culture that it can't even see the issue.

The fact they think that 2 men being sacked / resigning has ended the issue is a reflection on how little they have done to understand the issue

The women will not let it go. I hope they all stand together, or enough of them at least, and get some reassurance from the players' union or the govt about not being sued, because that must be a huge worry.

Good, in-depth article giving the story so far on the Spanish women vs RFEF.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66873595

Good luck tonight to England Women in the match vs Scotland. No Arsenal players in either side - Russo rested, Wubben-Moy injured.

England v Scotland is closer than I thought it would be. It's been an absorbing watch. The England, Scotland and Swedish teams all wore wristbands supporting the Spanish players.

England saved by the crossbar just now.